Well, anyone with a computer can get a website online. But just having the right tools does not make you an expert–and there’s a lot more to web design than getting some information online.

Hi, this is Steve Johnsen, and today I want to talk about another myth that is very common related to the internet and websites, and that is that anyone with a computer can design a website.

When I started building websites, there was no such thing as web design software. We built everything by typing code into a text editor. Now, there are all kinds of sophisticated software programs to make the web designer’s job easier. And even tools for the non-designer to use to get a website online.

On the one hand, this is a great development and has brought the cost of web design down dramatically. On the other hand, it has given birth to a myth that anyone with a computer can design a website. The truth is, there’s a lot more to web design than getting some information online.

It’s probably true that anyone with a computer now can produce a website. But that is not quite the same as designing a website. And even though anyone with a design program–with the graphic design software–might have the tools to design a website with, it does require some experience to design an effective website.

I would say this: that just having the right tools doesn’t make you an expert. For example, I might have the most sophisticated spreadsheet program in the world, but that doesn’t make me a chief financial officer. The CFO of a corporation needs to have the experience to understand corporate finance, and they need certain training to be able to do a good job of managing the corporation’s money.

In the same way, you can have the right design programs, the software, and the apps. But even though you might be able to turn out a website with it, it doesn’t necessarily mean that that website is designed. I happen to have a pipe wrench and a blowtorch, and I can sweat pipe, but you probably wouldn’t want me installing your sink. You want somebody with the right training and the right experience, so you know that that system is going to work right and not leak for you.

To design a website, I need to know more than how to use my graphic design software. I need to understand the business purposes of the website. I need to understand how the graphic design communicates the message that the corporation wants to communicate. I need to understand user interface design. I need to have some technical expertise so the site can get found by search engines. And I really have to be able to put myself in the mindset of the ideal customer and how they’re going to interact with that website, so I can make the site inviting and easy to use.

You know, it’s interesting, they did a survey of people who held the job title of web designer and they asked them, “What was your previous job title before you were a web designer?” The number one previous job title for web designers across the United States was “graphic designer.” That’s not a big surprise; that’s a natural transition. The number two previous job title for web designers was “waiter.” That’s an indication of how easy it is with the right apps, the right computer software, to turn out a website.

You can buy templates and pre-designed websites and fill in the blanks, and you can have a website in ten minutes, as one corporation famously advertises on TV. That’s a great way to get a placeholder up if someone is just starting out in business and they don’t have a lot of marketing budget. But that’s not the same as web design.

Web design is the major reason why people either stay on a website when they visit it, or they leave the website. The user experience design is something that the application, the graphic design tool, cannot turn out. That’s something that requires experience to create. Not only so, but design is the main reason why people trust a brand or trust a company when they’re visiting a website; or, why they would choose not to trust that company or brand.

It’s all in the design, and those are very subtle things that a piece of software cannot do for you.

Myth: Good design isn’t needed if you’re already at the top of search engine results.

Well, I would say that, actually, both are needed!

Hi, this is Steve Johnsen, and I want to talk about this idea that you don’t need good web design if you’re already showing up at the top of search engine results. The reality is that these are two separate things, and actually both are needed.

Using your website to get you business, to get you new customers, is actually a two-step process.

The first step is, you have to get found. When people go online to search for a service provider, you want them to find you. You want them to find your website. But once they click on that link and come to your website, then your website needs to connect with them emotionally and convince them to either pick up the phone and call you, or come into your store location, or fill out the contact form, or however it is that they get in touch with you to start doing business with you.

And that is a function of design.

Good web design makes an emotional connection with people. It causes them to trust you and to trust your brand. It makes them want to do business with you. So actually, you need both. You need to be at the top of the search engine results so that people can find you, and you need good web design to make that emotional connection with people so that once they come to your site, they’re wanting to do business with you.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was considered to be one of the greatest artists of his day, and has been considered so ever since. Some of his most famous works, the Pieta and David, were made when he was only in his twenties. His crowning achievement, though, may be the work he did not want to do.

In 1508, Michelangelo began painting the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel at the request of Pope Julius II. Michelangelo maintained that he was not a painter. All he wanted to do was sculpt statues. But the Pope was pretty persistent, and eventually Michelangelo agreed to paint the ceiling “for God.” It took him four years of physically exhausting work to complete it.

One thing that Michelangelo insisted on was that he would only do the ceiling if the Pope let him paint it in his own way. In fact, the Pope had hired five other skilled painters to come be Michelangelo’s helpers. Whenever they came to the chapel, though, they found the doors barred and locked. Eventually they gave up and went back home.

This is a common characteristic of many great artists. You can tell them what you want done, but don’t tell them how to do it. And they don’t want any help with their art.

Great designers operate the same way, because they are artists. Great designers are emotionally invested in their work, because good design IS art. Art with a purpose, yes, but art nonetheless. If you want to control the process of your web design, don’t hire an artist. Hire a run-of-the-mill graphic designer. There’s a place for that. Sometimes you just want someone who can execute your vision. But if you want something great, if you want a design that really makes a statement, then hire a great artist and then turn him or her loose.

Also, be sure to give really good directions up front. If your web design must incorporate photos of your store and management team, that is not something to stick in after the fact. Likewise, the time to rewrite the copy is before the design is started, not after it’s finished. If you commissioned a painting of a landscape, and then after it was done asked for a lake painted in the middle, you would lose the inspiration and the creativity. In the same way, a web design as a work of art needs clear parameters and then inspiration with freedom of movement. Otherwise, it becomes production work and not great art.

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